Is Ebay is allowing criminals to knowingly operate on their site? Have you been a victim?

[sea-ranch]

My teenage son and I started selling some of his extra video game items a few months ago to raise money for his college education.  We decided to sell his Nintendo 3DS with charger and three games.  The buyer claimed the shell of the console was discolored and forced a return under the buyer protection.  The buyer provided an all black photo as evidence and didn't respond to any of my messages asking for photos of the discoloration. The item was correctly described and shown clearly in photographs for the in the listing but Ebay said we were forced to accept the return. When the return arrived the items returned were different than what we sent and / or missing.  The charger was not the same one we sent and only one of the three games were returned.   Ebay let us know they decided to refund me AND the buyer.  While I am happy we will be paid for the listing, I'm shocked that the buyer is facing no consequences and being allowed to continue buying / selling. The buyer is a seller on Ebay who has a video game store with 3K+ reviews.   I'm questioning now if Ebay is allowing criminals to knowingly operate on their site. This ordeal has been very stressful and traumatizing to my family. My son's first experience on Ebay has been very negative.  I thought a big company like Ebay would have better fraud protection, but now I am questioning if they are allowing known criminals to continue to be part of the Ebay community.  Have you been the victim of a return fraud? If so, what happened and how did Ebay respond?

[caldreamer]

You a very, very lucky that EBAY reimbursed you.   There are many, many different types of scams happening on EBAY.   Normally, EBAY will NOT protect if you get scammed.   Do not sell more than you can afford to lose.

Common Scams:

- purchase item and then ask you to "text or call them" (so they can scam money from you)

- purchase item and return "box of rocks" (you are forced to refund (purchase price + shipping BOTH ways)

- purchase item and "reverse credit card" payment (customer keeps item + your money)

- purchase item and returns to "different address" (you are forced to refund (purchase price + shipping BOTH ways)

[fern*wood]

This seems to be a duplicate post.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-does-Ebay-address-fraud-and-scammers/td-p/34254170/jump-to...

[nathan_duke_30]

To answer your question yes.  I sell graded action figures. In the last year two different low feedback buyers have purchased my items.  They will then claim that the item is counterfeit and eBay will force you to accept the return no matter how much proof you have.  The buyer will then send ya back a worthless item and your out.  Customer service is a joke and they try to close the case as quick as possible without looking into it.  You could actually have picture proof and serial numbers of the items and eBay will still find for the seller.  It’s embarrassing that a company would allow this

[bonjourami]

Unfortunately, Ebay does not look at 'pictures', they can be doctored. In a he said, she said, case, Ebay will always side with the buyer.

[buyselljack2016]

looks more like a "quad" post

[iamalwaysright]

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@sea-ranch wrote:

This ordeal has been very stressful and traumatizing to my family. My son's first experience on Ebay has been very negative.  I thought a big company like Ebay would have better fraud protection, but now I am questioning if they are allowing known criminals to continue to be part of the Ebay community.  

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I'm going to sound harsh so don't take this personally as I'm not attacking you but being straightforward.

Yes, criminals are on ebay. Yes, we've been a victim of fraud. Ebay does very little because the "righteous folk" greatly outweigh the scammers on ebay and you don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

I'm sorry your son experienced this as his first sale out the gates, that's what happens sometimes. If you got traumatized, then thank your lucky stars ebay reimbursed you at all since it is very rare for them to do that in situations like this. It could have been much worse for you and you end up with your item lost and no payment.

Usually it's the other way around where the scammer tries to challenge me thru ebay and policy sides with me, then the buyer complains more to ebay and they reimburse the buyer to make them feel better. It happens all the time.

Lastly, from my experience I personally would never let my child start to sell on ebay if I didn't understand the policies and interworkings enough. Much like I won't teach my child how to ride a bike if I wasn't good at it myself. That way I'll be able to guide him/her to avoid common pitfalls, how to explain and solve common issues as they arise, and not get blindsided on incidents because I've already been thru it.

[iamalwaysright]

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@buyselljack2016 wrote:

looks more like a "quad" post

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Five time's a charm

[luckythewinner]

I'm questioning now if Ebay is allowing criminals to knowingly operate on their site. 

eBay does not knowingly allow criminals to operate on their site.

But when you signed up to sell on eBay, you agreed to the terms of eBay's Money Back Guarantee and buyers do sometimes commit fraud. 

[hartungcards]

Selling on eBay is usually not considered a solid higher education  investment plan.

[12345jamesstamps]

We have all been a victim at same point. I think it's a good learning experience. Not everyone is honest.

I got a dark bag of poop or something as a return....mailman refused to deliver it so I had to go to post office to see what it might be...I refused it and contested the refund and it cost me another $20. A lesson learned.

Like Forest Gump stated..."you never know what you're gonna get..."..."life is like a box of ..."

I got a girlie post card returned one time.

I only sell stamps...LOL

[vintagecraze50]

There are risks selling online. Ebay cannot totally control these risks for the seller. The worst one of them all is when customers use a credit card to pay. Consumers can do chargebacks on these cards for any reason whatsoever ever and use them like a weapon to steal merchandise. We have had a few encounters but not many because we do our own risk mitigation. One of these is we do not sell items over a certain price range. So if we get a rare scammer we can recoup the loss with many other items we sell. We recall packages if scammers do chargebacks while items are in transit. We report the buyers here who do not play by the rules. We appeal cases with ebay and they have some pretty good protections for sellers like you just experienced when they can at times assist in protecting you.

[vintagecraze50]

The 3k seller with all those reviews is going to be closed down if they have done this frequently. Too many reports of this kind from buyers will eventually do that if that is the path this seller is taking to gain merchandise to sell.

[laplion]

Fraud committed on an online website can be considered a federal offense, particularly if the fraudulent activity involves crossing state lines, which is often the case with internet transactions, making it punishable under federal laws like the "wire fraud" statute (18 U.S.C. § 1343) which can carry significant penalties including prison time and fines. 

• Interstate commerce:
Because online activity often crosses state lines, even if the victim and perpetrator are in the same state, the federal government can prosecute the case. 

• Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA):
This federal law also applies to online fraud cases, especially when unauthorized access to computer systems is involved. 

• Severity of penalties:
Federal charges for online fraud can result in harsher penalties compared to state-level charges due to the potential for significant financial losses and the ability to reach a wider range of victims.

[laplion]

You can report online fraud and attempted fraud to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at ic3.gov. You can also file a report at tips.fbi.gov or contact your local FBI field office if you need to report an ongoing crime, threat to life, or national security threat. 

 
When reporting online fraud you should include details such as:
• The website's URL or internet address
• The application's name
• The username of the individual or profile you are reporting
• The date and time of the post 

You should file a report as soon as possible to help with investigations, intelligence, and recovering lost funds. 

You can also review the IC3 Privacy Policy for more information.